Volkswagen's Big Bug: Where Does This Leave Ducati?

Bug In what may be the biggest automotive news of the decade, it has been revealed that Volkswagen used tricky software to bypass emmission standards in their diesel engine vehicles. The New York Times reports that up to 11 million cars around the world may be using the software that allows the vehicle to emit up to 40 times what is legal. What has this got to do with motorcycles? Volkswagen owns Audi, Audi owns Ducati and this this odd action by Wolkswagen may end up costing the company billions (with the really big B) of dollars. The New York Times reports that the automaker has already said it will pay over $7 billion US$ to fix the cars but that may only be a drop in the bucket as there is already talk of class action suits and possible hefty fines from the EPA and other bodies. At the Frankfurt Auto Show where Wolkswagen unveiled the new Monster 1200R, they spoke of nine new Ducati models coming down the pike. With that much money coming out of the parent company it is difficult to believe that any subsidiary will remain completely unscathed. Wolkswagen is a huge company that jousts with Toyota for title of world’s largest automaker but even this Goliath will feel the impact of this incident. It is going to be a very interesting story to follow.